The famous colloquial Arabic poet and lyricist Ahmed Fouad Negm has uncharacteristically decided to engage wholeheartedly in a moral battle instigated against him by journalist Adel Hammouda following the celebration of Negm's 70th birthday at the World Trade Centre in the presence of business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, who sponsored the celebrations. In this book Negm collects the documents relating to the disagreement, beginning with Hammouda's initial article in Al-Ahram, "Horses are not sold in supermarkets", and includes interviews and an extended commentary on the history of his relationship with Hammouda.

Hikayat Al-Qasa'id (Stories of the Poems), Ahmed Fouad Negm,

This is the definitive authorised edition of the selected works of the celebrated Egyptian vernacular poet Ahmed Fouad Negm. Though Negm's work has been published several times before in various editions, Negm points out in his introduction that in many of these neither the text nor the order of the poems was correct. Referring to such "widespread aberrations", Negm indicates that this is the first definitive edition of his 40 years' work, incorporating selections from collections from 1962 to the present. Another advantage of this edition is that it incorporates anecdotes and stories relating to each poem, placing them in their historical and often delightfully autobiographical context.

The reader finds out that the poem, "Ibn El-Balad" (Native Son), for example, one of composer Shiekh Imam's better known songs, emerged out of Negm's encounter withe the artist Kamal Khalifa: "Kamal Khalifa," Negm writes, "Egypt's great artist, who was compared by critics to the celebrated French artist Modigiliani, chose the last year of his life for us to meet, get to know each other, become friends and develop an affection for each other before he died at the height of his youth, leaving a wound in my heart that has yet to heal, even though that was in 1968. He took me by surprise during an evening in his house during which Shiekh Imam and a group of mutual friends were present: 'Are you a communist, Ahmed?' I said without thinking, 'I rather like China.' And he responded, a charming, tender smile gracing his narrow face, 'You don't like Egypt?' Accursed day! Somebody exists who does not like Egypt? May God ridicule you, Fagoumi [Negm's nickname], son of Hanem. Someone asks if you're a communist and you say yes or no. What is this business about liking China. You got what you deserved: a question like a knife in your heart... My answer was this poem."

Who would have thought that Ahmed Fouad Negm, the "poet of the people" -- whose playful, sarcastic and openly oppositional Colloquial Arabic poems and song lyrics, as much as his famous collaboration with the late composer and singer Sheikh Imam Issa, particularly during the Sadat era, made him the very symbol of the leftist struggle throughout the Arab World -- would choose to celebrate his 70th birthday in one of the World Trade Centre's ultra-modern Renaissance cinemas, and in the presence of the invincible Naguib Sawiris, the businessman who, by virtue of his current role in the Egyptian economy, has come to be seen as the instantly recognisable emblem of a new, Western-style and increasingly prevalent capitalism?

In recent years, many have commented that the insurgent intellectual and artistic energy of the late1960s, when Negm first made his name, has been absorbed into the fabric of the establishment, especially since many members of the left-leaning 1960s generation of writers and artists, including such ardent dissidents as late poet Amal Donqol, were officially acknowledged and canonised. In fact Negm had acquired celebrity status long before he began his eighth decade, and his image had not changed -- the warmth, generosity and humility of welad el-balad (residents of urban popular districts), the hoarse voice of an incorrigible chain-smoker, and Negm's trademark white galabeya, had all accompanied him to high-brow and popular venues alike. So when he first met Sawiris during the last Cairo Book Fair, it is only safe to assume that it wasn't the prospect of mutual business that moved Negm, but Sawiris's open avowal of being an eager Negm and Imam fan, while he was an engineering student in the 1970s. It was the resulting friendship they struck up that led to this unexpected event.

But the fact that it was sponsored by Sawiris did not render the celebration any less oppositional, although the predominant tone was far more relaxed than it used to be. Negm's fans have, of course, changed. Few members of the 1960s and 1970s old guard in fact showed up, while numerous well-established celebrities -- film stars, comedians, composers, singers -- along with students and aspiring intellectuals eager to discover the Negm-Imam legacy, filled the hall. But the actual substance of the evening went far beyond mere "entertainment". The screen showed footage of historical events from the 1960s and 1970s (popular responses to the 1967 defeat, Nasser's funeral, etc.), alternating with scenes from a documentary about Negm on which director Magdi Ahmed Ali is currently working. Live performances began with a new song written by Negm and composed by Iraqi musician Kawkab Hamza, beautifully delivered by the newly emerging Moroccan singing sensation, Asmaa' Mounawar. Well-known celebrities who contributed songs and poetry readings to the evening included singer Aza Balbaa', as well as actors Mahmoud El-Guindi, Mahmoud Hemeida, Ahmed Abdel-Aziz and Fardous Abdel-Hamid, composer Ammar El-Sherie'i and the charming Negm himself.

		Najm Farm أ¢â‚¬â€œ Al-Sharqeya - Egypt
		Al-Fagomy means "a person whose responses are harsh and rude". He composed an integral and unforgettable duet with Sheikh Imam, the duet of the poet & the singer and composer. This relation was supported by the political conditions, after the defeat of 1967, then the period of Al-Sadat and Camp David Treaty, the economic openness, and the students' demonstrations that used the duet's songs for inspiration. Both of them were continuously arrested. Najm has a special style of writing his political satire. He had his special vocabulary derived from the poorest districts in Cairo.